Humboldt Park Needs New Food Provider For Beer Garden

The Vine at Humboldt Park during the annual pumpkin pavilion event. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County’s Humboldt Park beer garden, called The Vine, needs a new food service operator.

Triciclo Peru, a defunct restaurant known empanadas, used to provide food service at the beer garden. The Near West Side restaurant, which opened in 2017, abruptly closed in September last year.

Milwaukee County Parks began looking this spring for a new food service provider for the Bay View park. The department is looking for food that will pair well with the craft beers on tap at the beer garden.

“The food offerings will be more important than even the financial offer for this venue,” parks said in a public solicitation for a new food operator. The only limit on what can be served at the beer garden is that the venue does not have an exhaust hood.

The beer garden in Humboldt Park, 3000 S. Howell Ave., first opened in 2014. It was operated until 2019 by the now-defunct St. Francis Brewery. The beer garden was rebanded as The Vine that year when the county established it as an internal operation. Between 2016 and 2023 the beer garden averaged between $50,000 and $100,000 in food sales every year. Last year, The Vine sold almost 30,000 beers according to Joe Mrozinski, assistant director of business services for parks.

The beer garden is located on the west side of the pavilion structure in the middle of the park. The restaurant was operated from a space inside the pavilion.

Beer gardens have become much beloved additions to county parks during the past decade. And they have also become important sources of funding for the parks system, generating millions annually.

Parks will begin reviewing proposals next week. The department hopes to find a provider that will open at The Vine by Memorial Day weekend and provide service six days a week through Labor Day.

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